NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson released a statement on Monday that he is reviewing the actions of both the Patriots head coach and Ravens head coach John Harbaugh during (actually, in Belichick’s case, after) Baltimore’s 31-30 win over New England at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday night.

Belichick opened his Monday afternoon press conference at Gillette Stadium by issuing a lengthy statement in an attempt to explain his intentions in the immediate aftermath of the loss, when he made contact with a replacement official after Ravens’ place kicker Justin Tucker’s 27-yard field goal as time expired was ruled good.

“On the final kick, after we took the timeout and rushed the kick, from the sideline, I saw the ball go pretty close to the upright,” Belichick began. “Couldn’t obviously tell from where I was at where exactly it went, but I saw our players waving that it was no good and I saw the officials giving the signal that it was good.

“I just wasn’t sure from where I was standing whether the ball, when it went over the crossbar, was above the upright or in between or not in between the uprights. So by rule, if the ball isn’t over the crossbar and it’s either inside or outside of the upright, that’s reviewable. If it’s over the top of the upright, then it’s not reviewable. But I couldn’t tell from my angle when the ball crossed the crossbar where it was so I didn’t know whether or not that play was going to be under review or whether it wasn’t.

“So when the game was over I went out and I was really looking for an explanation from the officials as to whether or not the play was under review and I did try to get the official’s attention as he was coming off the field to ask that, but I really wasn’t able to do that.”

Belichick went on to defend his track record as a coach in the NFL.

“I’ve coached in this league a long time and I’ve never been penalized, never had any incidents with officials or anything like that,” he said. “I have never meant any disrespect or in any way tried to abuse or be disrespectful to the officials and the job that they do. I was trying to get an explanation for obviously an important call, play, in that game, and that’s the No. 1 thing between coaches and officials that’s always at the forefront is just communication of what’s going on, what’s happening.”

Page 2 of 2 - Belichick reflected on one particular incident that occurred in a 27-24 loss to the Dolphins in the Patriots’ season finale at the old Foxboro Stadium 12 years ago.

“As many of you know I’ve been involved in (something) like this before,” said Belichick. “In 2000 here in Foxboro, Johnny Grier was the referee when Drew (Bledsoe) was trying to throw a pass at the end of a game against Miami and the ball was ruled a fumble and the clock ran out and the game was over and then as I was walking off the field with Johnny at that time I talked to him about, ‘This seems like an incomplete pass. There should be more time on the clock. We should have another play here.’ (He said,) ‘No. That’s the ruling. The game’s over.’

“We go back into the locker room, 10 minutes or so later Johnny comes back and says, ‘They’re reviewing the play. We may have to go out and finish the game.’ And about five minutes after that, players got dressed, we came back out for a final play in that game. So I’ve been through a situation at the end of a game where it’s over, but it’s not over.

“That was really the situation (Sunday) night,” said Belichick, “so I was trying to get the official’s attention to get an explanation on it and in no way was I ever trying to do anything other than that.”

More Gronk: Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski will be featured on an episode of the ESPN news magazine “E:60” at 7 tonight.